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In 1989, three 15-year-olds, dressed in identical shellsuits and trainers, posed for a photo to commemorate the imminent closure of their south London school. It was one of 24 photos taken that day by Ingrid Pollard, an up-and-coming photographer in her mid-30s, who simply stored the contact prints away in a box at home.
“From time to time, I would wonder what happened to those boys, particularly the ones in their shellsuits, because it was a very special photo,” said Pollard, who last month received the prestigious Hasselblad award, the top international photography prize.
Pollard’s friend Caroline Griffin, an English teacher, had invited her to take photos to mark the closure of Tulse Hill School. “But I never knew any names and certainly had no idea what happened to them,” says Pollard.
Last week, the photo finally went on display as part of a new exhibition at Tate Britain, The 80s: Photographing Britain. But Pollard still didn’t know who the boys were. It was only when the 1989 photo was posted just over a week ago on Instagram and a BBC London website that the trio was found.
“I was contacted by a woman friend who had seen the picture and was pretty sure it was me,” says Mark De-Lisser, standing on the left in the photo. Remarkably, he has kept in close touch over the past 35 years with the other two – Edmund Rudder, middle, and Marcellous Copeland – who were not only schoolfriends but also members in their youth of their Seventh-Day Adventist church choir.
“I immediately contacted them via our WhatsApp group,” says De-Lisser.
This led to a speedily arranged reunion between the trio and Pollard at the Tate just before the exhibition opening.
De-Lisser has only vague memories of the shoot. “I simply recall those shellsuits and trainers, which had, surprisingly, been bought for us a few days before by the school [so we could] perform in a music competition at the Hackney Empire,” he says.
De-Lisser had already formed a pop and R&B group, Special FX, with him and Copeland on keyboards while Rudder sang. They did gigs in south London, including the Fridge bar in Brixton, before eventually breaking up.
Their youthful promise has been borne out. All three, despite being at what Copeland calls a “very tough and maniacal school”, have forged successful careers, even though they left at 15 with just a few qualifications.
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De-Lisser, like Rudder, initially worked in junior roles at NatWest bank. “I wanted to go into the music world but my parents, who had come from the West Indies, didn’t think it a financially sustainable career.” He eventually got to college, then university and finally to the Central School of Speech and Drama by his late 20s.
De-Lisser is now one of Britain’s leading voice coaches, working on TV shows including The Masked Singer, The Voice UK and Our Dementia Choir with Vicky McClure, as well as lecturing. He also runs his own successful choir group, Singology. “My church bans electronic music, so the voice is very important. In fact, the voice itself is really a beautiful instrument.”
Copeland moved from investment banking into property, while Rudder has worked as head of operations at visitor attractions including the View from the Shard and the London Transport Museum. All three are married and live in south London.
Their reunion with Pollard on Tuesday night was, understandably, emotional. “That photo represents what Tulse Hill School was all about,” says Copeland.
“A lot of differences but everyone pulling together. We were lucky too to have some really good teachers.” These included Caroline Griffin, who has since worked in the theatre and as a poet.
Pollard, whose work has been in exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery and the V&A, now plans “a bigger and better” get-together in January. “I will give them each a copy of the 1989 photo – the boys in their shellsuits.”
